Explosion takes place at Brussels Criminology Institute – report
Five detained over fire at Brussels criminology institute – prosecutors
(about 4 hours later)
A bomb has exploded at Brussels Criminology Institute, according to Belgian broadcaster RTL. A car slammed through the barriers at 3 am local time, with one or several attackers exploding the bomb near the labs.
Five men suspected of setting fire to the Brussels Criminology Institute have been detained, a prosecution spokeswoman told Reuters, adding that the attack was more likely linked to organized crime than terrorism.
The building was empty and nobody was injured in the explosion, RTL added.
“It was arson, deliberate arson, at the laboratory of the federal police,” prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch said. “With a fire you get explosions, but it’s not that explosives were thrown inside or installed.”
One conflicting source reported that no bomb had been involved, but, rather, solid fuel had been ignited, according to VRT media outlet.
No casualties were reported, and five people were detained in the vicinity and are being questioned, she added.
Some experts are leaning more towards crime than terrorism as a possible explanation. Philippe Box, a criminal expert, told RTBF broadcaster that an attack organized in such a way that there are no victims could suggest criminal activity, saying an attempt may have been made to set the building on fire in order to destroy evidence, according to Interfax news agency.
The incident took place at about 2:00 local time (00:00 GMT).
Others say the attack has yet again exposed a major shortcoming in Europe’s security and intelligence systems.
RTL broadcaster reported earlier that a car had rammed through three protective fences before the fire in the building triggered a blast.
“This is no surprise that this happened… Authorities have clearly ignored specialists in Europe, [and] the terrorist group [Islamic State] is exploring possible vulnerability,” Ricardo Baretzky from the European Centre for Information Policy and Security told RT.
It is suspected that the fire was set to get rid of “several files,” Wymersch told AP.
The attackers have chosen “an unusual way [to conduct the intrusion],” but “any attack in any form is a terrorist attack,” he said.
“It is a path we are looking down. But certainly not the first one we are thinking about,” Reuters cites the spokeswoman as saying. “We are thinking more of deliberate arson by organized crime. We have no indications that it was terrorism.”
To avoid a repeat, the European authorities should “begin to listen to the real specialists, those who are on the ground, create international database to prevent this type of criminal activities, bring international coordination programs to Europe.”
The blast heard by locals could have been caused by combustible substances stored inside the institute rather than an explosive, Wymersch added.
Belgium has been on terror alert (level three, with a maximum of four) since bomb attacks hit the city’s airport and metro, leaving 32 people dead. Islamic State claimed responsibility for those terrorist acts.
About 30 firefighters assisted in putting out the blaze, which caused “significant damage” to the building, local media reported.
Brussels police have been carrying out regular raids since the March attacks to look for potential terrorist suspects.
In one of those latest raids in mid-June, at least 12 people were arrested on suspicion of plotting attacks, of which three were charged and nine released, according to the prosecutor.
The raids are mainly conducted in a Muslim area of Brussels called Molenbeek, which is often referred to as an “Islamist hotspot.”
With a population of 11 million people, Belgium has become the source of more Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) recruits than any other European country, the UN Working Group said back in June.
